Tumblr

Me, after sorting all this out.

I've mentioned previously that this year I attempted to keep my Tumblr: Pesonal and Reflective work (images to be used for networking and presentation) seperate from Blogger: Uni Blog (reviews, responses to briefs, contact with industry etc) as i've had interest from a basic clientele over the past year or so and prefer to show them finalised images, descriptive information about said images and my working process rather than, let's be honest, reams of fairly cringey writing. It's also been useful for getting in contact with the industry and hopefully even more so next year when creating a real life website.

So here's the link to We Sleep In Trees.

Screenshot of my followers page, Mr Alan Dalby on there...name drop.

I have around 70 followers and exactly 132 posts to date, which gives you an idea of the frequency I post and network at considering i've had it for around 15 months.

Daily Zen.

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things."
- Henry Miller.

Why Are Things The Way They Are?

Why are things the way they are? My mind is never satisfied and spending every day in a state of flux; awe, terror and wonderment, has left me frustrated this year. However, organising the rubble from the wealth, into a tangible alignment has helped an infinite amount. Level 4 helped me find my voice as an illustrator, developed my confidence when expressing ideas and honed my technique. Of course I knew from the beginning that the preceeding years would be the real test but entering second year I realised there was more to it than being taken out of my comfort zone or given briefs I had no real connection with. Struggles, successes and questions encountered over the course of Level Five have challenged me in ways I previously considered un-obstructive, being tested and pushed almost constantly has improved my time-scale awareness over time but ultimately left me frustrated, de-moralised and dis-satisfied. Coming to terms with my artistic flaws and inconsistant attendance has forced me to face lingering demons, personal and just downright stubborn. I feel the process of re-assessing my working method and attempting to climb out of my comfy little box has helped me to achieve clarity concerning the relationship between my influences and work.


Combining quotes and extracts (in my writing) from a handful of my favourite writers, poets and theorists highlights topics I feel most passionately about and reminded me what I have to give. Recognising my influences through either an overt or discreet lens strengthens the path between each element poured into content and captured image, placing any certified inspiration alongside my own work elevates confidence in not only my aspirations but my technical ability. The passion felt reading Bukowski or Keroauc is matched emotionally by viewing ‘Disaster’s of War’ by Laurie Lipton and ‘The Garden of Earthly Delight’s’ by Bosch, which breathes life into my pipe-dream of blending language and visual into something lasting, outside of my head. The majority of the questions and realisations I have voiced over the course of the year reflect this struggle, I know where I want to be and what I have to do to get there so now all I have to do is get on with it.


Concerning my work, themes circling animal form, behaviour and prevention of cruelty are contained within many of my drawings, which has been twisted over the last few years and mutated into the preservation and collection of the anatomy when mortality prevents the preservation of the living spirit. This, along with philosophical ideas of mimesis connected with anthropology and the more politically charged argument of excessive reproduction vs. the hideously expensive fine art industry will be developed through a Dissertation process later on in the year.






(Adapted from my Critical Perspectives Summary.)

Wind Int' Willows.

Final design for 'Wind In The Willows' Puffin book cover.

Above is my final edit for the brief outlining the creation of a new cover for Puffin Books: Wind In The Willows. Although it is shown here without the official template, I have left sufficient space and indication boxes where the blurb, author's name, caption and logo would be situated. Originally drawn on tracing paper with biro and fineliner, the layered drawing was compiled on photoshop, edited and then placed on a hand-painted background, designed to look like an old, worn bound book.

The red paint-like marks on the back cover, overlapping the gas-lamp (furthest left) was an accident after using a rather abused scanner, but instead of erasing it in Photoshop I left it in the final design. Whether it works or not is probably relative to personal opinion although the nature of the dusty red insinuates the fire in the lamp subtly. After compiling the images, the front and back cover were disjointed and only worked as seperate images. To adjust this I purposefully shaped the smoke to flow between the covers and over the spine, encorporating it into the front cover as much as possible by framing Toad and wrapping it around the crystal ball. I do still feel the boldness of lines and quality of typography on the spine could be further improved and with hindsight I would have worked more colours or at least another tone into the scheme.

Intitial character design page featuring main character of my cover, Toad.

I didn't develop as much of a connection with this brief as I'd hoped, seeing as it was a favourite story of mine as a child, but as far as the outcome of the work goes I'm relatively happy with the aesthetics and slight symbolism hidden in the elements. My sketchbook for this project reflects a more expanded working process as I produced far more potential outcomes and variations that usual.

Previous cover design, typography and a bit of boring desk.

1, 2, 3.

•Ben Templesmith:
Comic book author and illustrator, originally from Australia, living in New York.

‘Find something worth obsessing over, wrap your tentacles around it and don’t let go.’ 



•Scott Move:
Custom tattooist and illustrator, originally from London, living in London.

‘Be a nuisance. Show them you want to be heard and if they’re still not interested, pester them until they’ll give you a chance...even if they give you that opportunity on the chance you’ll fuck off and leave them alone afterwards, it’s still an opportunity.’


•Jadine Sara:
Wise 3rd Year Student, originally from York, living with me.
‘Just chill out and stop thinking so much. The more you think about how many things you have to produce, the less you’ll actually do. I’ll put the kettle on.’

I Wish I'd Done This

'Disasters Of War' by Laurie Lipton, 2003.

Charcoal/pencil on paper, 49 x 59cm.

London based New Yorker, Laurie Lipton has lived and had her work exhibited all over the world. Inspired by the religious painters of the Flemish school and 16th century Dutch Masters, direct and unafraid, Lipton learnt through trial and error that she could never match up to her influences so took to her self-taught, insanely time-consuming drawing technique. Her drawings take longer to complete than most of the paintings she idolised, but the luminosity and detail captures the aching atmosphere connected to her chosen subject matter perfectly.

Although i'm fond of every piece she's created to date, for different reasons, 'Disaster's of War' is the one i wish I'd done. Drawn from the viewer's perspective makes it near impossible to abstain being pulled into the work, the scene is almost too familiar and the singular, intentional use of colour drags the eye past the cleverly placed Guernica to the focus of the piece, the televsion. The disturbing imagery is strangely comforting to me, although whether this should alarm me I'm not entirely sure, is it a reflection on my life...even the lives of every one around me? We see acts of unkindness, hurt, disaster, even terror every single day, around us, on the box or projected onto a politically innacurate plinth by the media. Which has resulted in a numbing, dare i say it, apathetic opinon of war. It would appear the phrase 'seeing is believing' has hit another level. Seeing someone getting blown apart on a screen while we're chowing down on a saturated, 2-minute microwave burger won't touch your appetite, it has next to no effect. Nowadays you have to be stood mid-battlefield, spattered in someone elses blood, waiting to have your own limbs torn from your body at any second...to get a rise. Lipton condemns the viewing public guilty as charged in 'Disasters...', combining the aching black and tone drawing, subtle wit and the symbolicl mockery encapsulated in Picasso's mug o' tea. The powerful political content; clever without being complex whilst retaining such technical prowess and aesthetic structure is what I yearn for in my work. The darkest corners of her mind are revealed and the vengeful streak that flows through each individual piece has me hooked.